There is no doubt that the blogging has changed the internet as we know it today. The days of boring, stale, static content websites are over. Bloggers have become a source of fresh and interesting content for internet users across the world. The blogosphere is constantly evolving and changing thanks to this seemingly unending stream of interesting information published by regular people like you. The great thing about the blogosphere is that anyone can contribute to it. You can start blogging and get your word out there today with a great open source blogging platform known as WordPress. Install this software on your website and you can have a blog up and running in no time. Never heard of WordPress? Well these top companies and publications have:

The New York Times
Yahoo’s Corporate Blog
CNN’s Political Ticker
Sony Playstation Blog
Southwest Airlines
The list goes on and on…

You’re probably thinking: if all these huge companies use this software called WordPress, it’s probably too complicated for a beginning blogger like me. That is just absolutely wrong. WordPress is very simple to use and anyone can start blogging with it. The reason why such large companies and small-time bloggers alike use WordPress is the simplicity, flexibility, and easy of use. Let’s not forget WordPress is absolutely free and open source. Here are some of the benefits of using WordPress as your blogging platform of choice:

An easy to use blogging platform. Write in a WYSIWYG editor, save drafts, and publish when you’re ready.
A huge community full of support, free templates, plugins, and additional addons and modifications for your blog
A dynamic theming system, change the look of your entire blog with one click.
Generate “SEO-friendly” permalinks with the click of a button.
Built-in RSS feed functionality.
Categorize and tag your blog posts.
Create static pages.
Integrated search box.
Automatic pinging to the top blog ping services.
The possibilities are literally endless…

With the thousands upon thousands of other blogs running WordPress, it’s popularity is undeniable. Give it a test drive yourself by signing up for a free hosted blog at WordPress.com or take the plunge and host it yourself. Take advantage of the variety of free tools and resources associated with this popular open source blogging software. Happy blogging!

In one of James Bond Thriller, Diamond is Forever; nothing last like a diamond. In sharp contrast, this cannot be said to be true for a website. Back in the ‘90s and early 2000s, owing a website for a company website was phenomenal and considered ahead of its time.
In the current dynamic market, a mere website is never enough. The technological advancements call for well-designed, easily navigable and interactive website that exceeds the expectations of the customers and the business in equal measures. This is the only way to remain competitive in the 20th century.
According to research done by Stanford University, 75% of people judge the reliability of a company based on the design of its website. The perception has significant influence and before I forget, have I mentioned that website technology is evolving at incredible speeds?

Here are 10 clear Signs it’s Time to update your corporate website.

1. AN OUTDATED WEBSITE DESIGN MIGHT BE SENDING AWAY POTENTIAL CLIENTS

Recently there was a trending post on a popular social media website where the users expressed their concern about discomfort purchasing from a certain website because of its poor design. To them, the poor design created the impression the enterprise closed down.
Let’s give a hypothetical case for clarity, if a poorly designed website has the potential to chase away a potential customer a week, how many customers would be lost in a year? What about the value of the sales lost? Would anyone afford to lose that much within a year?

2. IF YOUR WEBSITE ISN’T MOBILE RESPONSIVE YOU COULD BE EXCLUDED FROM SEARCH ENGINES

Last year Google announced, “As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns.” The increased use of internet through mobile phones access means business have to adapt to the changing needs. Having a fully responsive website give business certainly give more audience.

In the same announcement, Google stated that: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact on our search results. “

You can actually visit OUR TOOL to check the mobile-friendliness of your site.

I have witnessed numerous companies launch their new websites. They are ecstatic but I have seen them fall short on something: the mobile responsive website isn’t included in their package. The good news is that every new website we develop at Adwestudio is built to be mobile responsive. Our pool of professional help many companies to make their website mobile friendly. In this information era, a mobile responsive website is no longer optional but a requirement.

Indeed, not only does this increase chances of ranking higher in search engines but its significantly reduces the bounce rate. Bounce rate is enabled by the metric rate which is a tool developed to track the percentage of people who have landed a website and leave without clicking to anywhere else on your website.

3. IF YOU DON’T HAVE UP TO DATE SECURITY YOUR WEBSITE COULD BE AT RISK

As the world, we have witnessed technological revolutionary. New programmes and software are developed every other day. It is possible to shop without queuing; control digital gadgets virtually and have real-time responses from websites. Amazing things are now possible courtesy to technological advancement. But have it escaped you the dangers posed by this technology?

This can never be illustrated better than to imagine someone having control of your car breaks. Then, this must prick your conscious to always double check what they could do to your website. Hacking is commonly performed by automated scripts written to scour the Internet in an attempt to exploit known website security issues in software. Having up to date website security minimises the risk of your website being compromised.

4. IF YOU DON’T HAVE UP-TO-DATE CONTENT ON YOUR WEBSITE CLIENTS MIGHT NOT STICK AROUND TO READ MORE

I recently stumbled on a website that the last update was the last 5 years ago. 5 years ago? That sounds unthinkable but it is true. I pondered if it was still active and if the business was still running. For 5 seconds, I was lost in thoughts before I clicked off and found one up to date.

With so many websites on the internet, the market is competitive and there’ is so much information to choose from. This offers many advantages to the users but demands the owner of website to stay up-to-date. Content updates let your customers know that you’re busy, active and most importantly, still in business!

There are so many benefits that accrue to an up-to-date website. A well-updated website attracts more links. This means if you write good content, the community of users will share the link on social media or their own blogs. Eventually, this creates more link to your website. More inbound links equal more traffic and that’s great for the business!

Another good reason to update your content ties in with our next reason.

5. IF YOUR WEBSITE IS STRUGGLING TO APPEAR IN SEARCH ENGINES YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT UPDATING WEBSITES SEO

If you rarely improve on the content in the website, one sure thing is that the search engine ranking falls down. The search engine are optimised to recent content as more relevant to web users. Your content might be pieces of diamond, but if they lay static on a website for 5 years, then the search engine crawlers might not detect it as relevant anymore.

6. YOU CAN’T EASILY MAKE CONTENT UPDATES

Content management systems (CMS) has made headways and made it easy for non-technical users to add, edit and manage a website. There is no excuse for the business not to employ one and easily manage the content without the use of code. For reasons well known to website users, keeping your content relevant is paramount and with evolution of CMS, one should be able to edit without necessary hiring skills from bug web developer. If you cannot easily make updates, it’s high time you get a new one.

Things does not sound so bad though when you have a site on a CMS; you’re always in control. If you want to update the content to support a specific campaign, it super-easy! Re-developing your website in CMS is a shrewd business decision and really energises your marketing team.

7. YOUR WEBSITE IN FLASH

If your site is still running in Flash, you might not like this, but this means it has been outdated for the past 5+ years. The flash is not supported by virtually all software platform including iPhone, iPad and search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. To further discredit it, the user have to install a plugin (to have the latest version) which is really annoying every time they are prompted to update. Moreover, it is difficult to create, use and maintain.

For the animation lovers, they do not have to look further as the HTML5 solves it all. Website developers can easily use this platform to create interactive, animated features and the best part is the HTML5 can be supported across all browsers and smartphones.

Results from CEI survey indicated that at least 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better experience which means the more attractive a site is to use can translate into more revenue for the business.

8. YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS ARE LOW

Search engine algorithms have broken new grounds over the years. If your organic search engine ranks dismally low, this could be symptoms that your website needs an update. Some year back, all that mattered is to have as many keywords for SEO but thanks to Google, today having original, high-quality content on your site makes it popular. Just a reminder, if the content on your website does not conform to the current SEO or it’s interred within flash elements or images, it may be time for an update.

According to research done by Search Engine Journal, 93% of online experiences starts with a search engine. Developing your site with SEO in mind will ensure that potential customers can find you online.

9. IF YOUR WEBSITE IS SLOW

Online consumers hate slow websites. According to KISSmetrics, 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less, and 40% of people will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load!

In case your corporate website is this slow, the statistics should be awake up call. It doesn’t only annoy your customers (causing them to look for alternatives websites) but also hurts the search engine ranking. Website developers are easily available these days, so if yours is low, its big time for re-design.

Having a fast-loading website will not only ensure that your customers stick around, but also that they’ll have a great experience on your site!

10. IT JUST LOOKS OUTDATED AND YOU’RE EMBARRASSED TO GIVE OUT YOUR URL

Websites have revolutionised. Today, it’s all about user interface and clean, elegant design. You should not find sleep if your site is not conforming to latest trends.

To attest to this fact, research done by ResearchGate showed that 94% of people say that websites with good designs are more trustworthy. It’s important that your customers and potential customers trust you, and a strong re-design can help make that happen.

For any of the reasons mentioned above, or maybe for some reason I didn’t mention, if you’re embarrassed to give your URL out, it’s definitely time for a website update!

Your website is an investment for the future success of your business, and it’s important to have that sense in mind. Having a strong online presence is no longer optional. In addition, your website can be the vehicle that leads to the Promised Land of better awareness, more leads and ultimately more happy customers.

If a person visits your website and leaves, chances are that he or she will not come back, especially if there are no compelling reasons to do so. After all, we all behave rather impulsively on the Internet, so much so that we can easily forget where we were 10 web pages ago.

But the bottom line is that your visitor may not come back to your website again. If 1,000 visitors visit your website, leave and never come back again, you can imagine the amount of potential revenue lost, simply because they do not come back. You could have converted a fraction of the visitors into your customers.

Some may say that creating unique content can keep some of the visitors coming back, but very often, unique content is not the solution. The real, long-term solution lies in converting your visitors into subscribers of your mailing list.

Before your visitor leaves your website, you want to convert him or her into your subscriber via a simple opt-in to your mailing list. You do this by asking for your visitor’s name and email address through your opt-in form.

And if your visitor signs up to be on your mailing list, you can still follow up with him via email. You can get your subscriber to consider your offer, or endorse another offer to him or her.

All in all, you want to convert as many visitors into subscribers as possible and obtain the potential revenue you rightfully deserve – the easy, wise way.

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Business blog is an incredible online marketing tool that saves you thousands of dollars but provides great business opportunities in just one click. Blogs are user-friendly, customized and flexible medium for disseminating useful information for effective positioning of your products in the market.

Companies engaging in business blogging have a definite edge over its competitors. Here are some advantages:

Word-of-Mouth. In a survey, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added each day and about 30 percent of the 50 million users are blog readers. Imagine how much gain your company will have, if your products are advertised through blogs. With Internet, information spreads so quickly especially if an impressive write-up goes with your product. Soon your blogs will be passed on to hundreds of possible customers.

Awareness and loyalty. Open communication with your customers creates trust and loyalty among them. Being there to respond to their questions and comments make them all the more willing to try your products and services.

Feedback. Blogs is good for product research and reviews. It would be easier to improve on your products if you observe your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns. You can also take immediate action to your customers’ concerns.

Community halo-effect. Bloggers are reasonable, friendly and helpful. They are more than willing to create blogosphere of comments regarding your product. The only thing you have to do is embrace and take active part in the culture and your product will surely be considered in their next stop to the supermarket.

For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting your blogs to blog search sites and directories. Do not forget to paste in with your blogs, your URL. Be sure that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are always updated to keep readers popping in, read up your blog, move on to the next and click on again for updates.

Blog is like a setup booth in the biggest trade show on earth everyday. Marketing possibilities are just around the corner waiting to strike your sale scales up.

The Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds are important too in conjunction with your blogs to get the best benefits. Use effective keyword phrases to generate high ranking status in the search engine traffic. In this way you have better chances of people finding your website leading to your blogs. More traffic means more potential sales.

For this to be successful, you can use RSS for news update feeds which can be read through RSS reader application. This is a very useful tool for business and internet marketers as well.

If you are already convinced with the potentials of business blogs for marketing and targeting sales increase, your company is now ready to start blogging. But first, you have to be in tune with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve your goal.

1. Several blogs are dedicated to teaching people the do’s and don’ts of blogging, READ them! Include in your reading materials blogs that are consumer-based too to give you an idea.

2. Setup several test blogs right away.

If your initial try out with blogs worked well, you can now start setting up your blogs.

Study blog design. Blog hosting services provide pre-designed templates. But if you opt for paid blog service, you can ask your artist to design and layout your blog site to match the company’s identity and needs.

Choose a topic. Its good to have a line-up of topics you want for your blogs but be sure they are in consonance with your business objectives. This would be a test of your flexibility and open-mindedness since results may be going against the set objectives.

Remember the following safety measures in blogging:

legal issues are sometimes involved in blogging; it is safer to include disclaimers and limitations of liabilities;

corporate communication and legal department are responsible in educating the senior management on how blogs might affect business;

create blogging policies; set limits on who gets to blog and what information are allowed to be made public;

avoid outright marketing blog or you will shy away your readers;

make content updated, relevant and fresh;

reinforce the company’s core values; and,

encourage employees to use it.

Start blogging and complete 20 posts before going to marketing.

Begin marketing.

Regularly monitor the coming ins and outs of readers and get updates. Then, measure your results.

Adjust if needed. You can always play with your designs in the blog site as long as it remains to match the company’s identity.

Strive to be consistent with your topic all the time.

Try to have unrelated topics with general and broad appeal.

Schedule updates regularly. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would be best to update blogs.

Once you have done all these things, you can now ultimately enjoy the benefits of business blogging.

Putting up a company would of course require a lot of things, to get straight to the point, you need a capital. To make money requires money as well. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to speed a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.